New researches: May 2021

Monday, May 31, 2021

Theme Parks, WhatsApp, Emergencies Apps, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 31, 2021

Theme Parks, WhatsApp, Emergencies Apps, More: Monday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 31, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Spotted on Reddit: A database of theme parks. Apparently the data is based on an app called LogRide, which is a theme park tracker. The database contains information on over 1300 theme parks, over 3200 roller coasters and over 37,000 attractions. Tons of information and photographs and even a toggle switch to go between metric and imperial measurements. Holy mackerel.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Next Web: WhatsApp says it won’t limit functionality if you refuse its privacy policy — for now. “…the Facebook-owned app said that it won’t delete any user’s account if they don’t accept the new policy, but will constantly remind them to accept it. WhatsApp also said at that time that after ‘several weeks,’ if you don’t accept the policy, it will restrict certain core functionality of the platform. Now, in a new statement, the company has clarified that after speaking with governments and privacy advocates it won’t restrict any functionality, even if you don’t accept the policy for now.”

USEFUL STUFF

CNET: 16 emergency apps for wildfires, earthquakes and other disasters. “Check out the top apps to help you before, during and after the next emergency — whether it’s a hurricane, earthquake, wildfire or flooding. Many of these Android and iOS apps work both online and off, for help during power outages or a loss of cell service.”

Mashable: 5 gorgeous YouTube cooking channels that will soothe your soul. “YouTube has a reputation for being filled with shouting streamers, terrible takes, and thinly-veiled bigotry, but it can also be a force for good. A less widespread but infinitely more nourishing category of YouTube content are the cooking channels, which feature people preparing gorgeous, presumably delicious meals. Yet among these there is an even more calming and aesthetically pleasing subgenre. I am referring, of course, to the tranquil, quiet cooking channels featuring humble meals made from scratch.” Watching the Liziqi channel is like watching a beautiful, calm movie.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

KPIX: San Francisco’s Kearny Street Workshop Provides Voice To Asian-American Artists. “The nonprofit provides workshops and performances, from photography to podcasts, equipping artists like Kazumi Chin, Michelle Lin and Dara Del Rosario. The trio produces KSW’s first podcast, called ‘We Won’t Move: A Living Archive,’ featuring conversations with inspiring Asian American artists and community activists.”

CNBC: Black Wall Street was shattered 100 years ago. How the Tulsa race massacre was covered up and unearthed. “At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, became one of the first communities in the country thriving with Black entrepreneurial businesses….On May 31, 1921, a white mob turned Greenwood upside down in one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. In the matter of hours, 35 square blocks of the vibrant Black community were turned into smoldering ashes. Countless Black people were killed — estimates ranged from 55 to more than 300 — and 1,000 homes and businesses were looted and set on fire.”

Remezcla: Karen Vidángos of ‘Latina in Museums’ Talks Inclusivity + Hopes for More Diverse Future in the Art World. “Among the staff at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, is a social media specialist named Karen Vidángos, also known by her social media moniker ‘Latina In Museums.’ The Bolivian-American art history and museum studies graduate merges her social media savvy background with passion for art to explore underrepresented perspectives and amplify the immersion of the Latine community in museum institutions through her platform Latinx Curated.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The New Yorker: How to Negotiate with Ransomware Hackers. “The F.B.I. advises victims to avoid negotiating with hackers, arguing that paying ransoms incentivizes criminal behavior. This puts victims in a tricky position. ‘To just tell a hospital that they can’t pay—I’m just incredulous at the notion,’ Philip Reiner, the C.E.O. of the nonprofit Institute for Security and Technology, told me. ‘What do you expect them to do, just shut down and let people die?’ Organizations that don’t pay ransoms can spend months rebuilding their systems; if customer data are stolen and leaked as part of an attack, they may be fined by regulators.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Krishi Jagran: Indian startup collaborates with Google.org to deploy Artificial intelligence to prevent crop damage. “Agriculture supports 70% of rural households in India, with 80 percent of smallholder farmers (those with two hectares or less) accounting for the majority . Cotton, India’s third-largest agricultural output after rice and wheat, is cultivated by approximately 6 million people. It’s prone to pests in particular: A particularly ravenous-type insect killed half of Maharashtra’s cotton crop in 2017, the country’s second-most populated state. Wadhwani AI, an Indian non-profit firm, has partnered up with Google’s philanthropic arm in its first endeavor in Asia to assist farmers avoid such tragedies and thereby enhance crop yields and revenues.”

EurekAlert: Maximizing cancer survival, minimizing treatment side effects with AI. “Computer scientists at the University of Illinois Chicago are developing a computational artificial intelligence system they hope will serve as a decision support tool for doctors prescribing treatment for head and neck cancer. The work is supported by a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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June 1, 2021 at 01:52AM
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Early Medieval England Writing, Accessible Websites, TikTok, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 31, 2021

Early Medieval England Writing, Accessible Websites, TikTok, More: Monday ResearchBuzz, May 31, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Thanks to Diane R. We toss resources back and forth to each other via email and she sent me a gem yesterday from Medievalists: Medieval database revived – examines writings from early medieval England. “Created in the 1990s, the loss of the ground-breaking Fontes Anglo-Saxonici database in 2018 made it virtually impossible once again to trace the precise borrowings within the early medieval literary heritage of the British Isles. However, in a multi-disciplinary project involving medieval scholars and computer scientists, researchers and enthusiasts of the period can once again cross-reference medieval authors with their global counterparts from whom they often ‘borrowed’ long passages in pre-plagiarism times.”

PR Newswire: accessiBe, The Web Accessibility Market Leader, Announces New Search Engine accessFind to Help People with Disabilities Find Accessible Websites. “Through partnerships with organizations including United Spinal Association, Columbia Lighthouse For The Blind (CLB), The Viscardi Center, The IMAGE Center of Maryland, Earle Baum Center of the Blind, Determined2Heal, Senspoint, and others, accessFind will be the first search engine designed to enhance how people with disabilities navigate the internet through the creation of an accessible-friendly index of websites.”

USEFUL STUFF

Washington Post: Extension services are the best free cooking resource. Here’s how to use them.. “Formally established by an act of Congress in 1914, extension programs are based at land-grant colleges and universities and tasked with providing nonformal, research-based education to agricultural producers, business owners and the general public on a wide variety of topics, from parenting and gardening to cooking and food safety.”

Screen Rant: How To Schedule & Register For TikTok Live Events. “TikTok Live allows users to broadcast to their followers in real-time, much like the similar functionality in platforms like Instagram. Not everyone can go live on TikTok — users must be 16 years or older to do so and have at least 1,000 followers. This helps to ensure there will be at least some interest in broadcasts. Of course, when users go live with no warning then only their followers on the app at the time or available to watch when they receive a notification will be able to view the broadcast. That’s what Live Events are aimed at tackling.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Irish Times: Facebook rejects two proposals to reduce Zuckerberg’s control over the company. “Facebook has rejected two proposals intended to diminish chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s control over the company, an expected though disappointing outcome for those worried about the chief executive’s power. The board on Wednesday turned down a proposal to replace Mr Zuckerberg as chairman with an independent representative. Mr Zuckerberg, who has served as chairman since 2012, controls about 58 per cent of the voting shares, according to a regulatory filing.”

The Guardian: Influencers say Russia-linked PR agency asked them to disparage Pfizer vaccine. “French and German YouTubers, bloggers and influencers have been offered money by a supposedly UK-based PR agency with apparent Russian connections to falsely tell their followers the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is responsible for hundreds of deaths.”

CNA Lifestyle: Instagram account shows love – and online exposure – to elderly hawkers. “According to the Instagram account, there will be three posts on three different hawkers each day ‘to help elderly hawkers to get more business during these tough times’. And these hawker highlights are crowd-sourced from the public.” This is in Singapore.

SECURITY & LEGAL

New Zealand Herald: Australian authorities investigate OnlyFans for possible links to financial crime. “NCA NewsWire reports that financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC and the Australian Federal Police are monitoring the not-safe-for-work site over concerns its murky payments platform is facilitating crime, as banks and regulators are unable to establish who receives the payments.”

The Daily Swig: Bluetooth pairing, pwned: Security researchers discover fresh wave of ‘impersonation attack’ flaws in wireless tech. “Attackers were able to impersonate legitimate devices during the Bluetooth pairing process because of inherent security weaknesses in the Bluetooth Core and Bluetooth Mesh specifications that underpin the ubiquitous wireless technology.”

BBC: Russian hackers target aid groups in new cyber-attack, says Microsoft. “Microsoft says another wave of Russian cyber-attacks has targeted government agencies and human rights groups in 24 countries, most in the US. It said about 3,000 email accounts at more than 150 different organisations had been attacked this week.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Recode by Vox: A disturbing, viral Twitter thread reveals how AI-powered insurance can go wrong. “Lemonade, the fast-growing, machine learning-powered insurance app, put out a real lemon of a Twitter thread on Monday with a proud declaration that its AI analyzes videos of customers when determining if their claims are fraudulent. The company has been trying to explain itself and its business model — and fend off serious accusations of bias, discrimination, and general creepiness — ever since.”

VentureBeat: Adversarial attacks in machine learning: What they are and how to stop them. “Adversarial machine learning, a technique that attempts to fool models with deceptive data, is a growing threat in the AI and machine learning research community. The most common reason is to cause a malfunction in a machine learning model. An adversarial attack might entail presenting a model with inaccurate or misrepresentative data as it’s training, or introducing maliciously designed data to deceive an already trained model.” Good morning, Internet…

May 31, 2021 at 09:23PM
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Thursday, May 27, 2021

Crystal Lee Sutton, Remarkable Records, Google Docs Watermarks, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021

Crystal Lee Sutton, Remarkable Records, Google Docs Watermarks, More: Thursday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Digital North Carolina: Materials Documenting the Life of Crystal Lee Sutton, Activist and Union Organizer, Now Online. “Crystal Lee Sutton was a union organizer and activist, recognized as the driving force behind the unionization of J.P. Stevens plant workers in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. Her story inspired the acclaimed 1979 film, Norma Rae. Items digitized in this collection give firsthand accounts leading up to that notable unionization, including a union cheer and a timeline of events recorded in several meeting recollections with J.P. Stevens management.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Texas Record: Remarkable Records: A New Blog Series!. “In the course of our work, we’ve become intimately familiar with the retention schedules for state agencies, public universities, and local governments. Our team keeps detailed lists of record series that need improvement and there are rarely times when we don’t have one of the schedules on the revisions chopping block. Some of us have adopted favorite records series, such as well-written descriptions or retention periods that support efficient workflows, but there are also some that are stinkers. So, we want to share some of the records series we like (or dislike) and why.”

Mumbrella: ABC signs letters of intent with both Google and Facebook. This is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “The ABC has signed letters of intent with both Google and Facebook, becoming the latest media outlet in the country to sign commercial agreements with the two digital giants. ABC Managing Director David Anderson made the statements during a Senate Estimates hearing yesterday evening.”

USEFUL STUFF

Digital Inspiration: How to Add a Watermark in Google Documents. “Unlike Microsoft Word, there’s no built-in support for Watermarks in Google Docs but there’s a simple workaround – create a faded image with the text of your watermark and place that image behind the text of your document pages. Here’s how.”

CNET: Google Photos is ending unlimited free storage next week. Here’s what to know. “Google Photos will end its unlimited free storage policy for photos and videos next week. After June 1, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15GB of storage that comes with every Google account. But don’t worry: Any photos or videos you’ve uploaded before that day won’t be part of the cap. And Google has added a new free tool to help you manage your storage quota.” Thorough overview.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: ‘Inconceivable’: why has Australia’s history been left to rot? . “Last week, it was revealed the archives had resorted to launching a crowdfunding site in a last ditch attempt to raise tens of millions of dollars to digitise disintegrating historical materials. The crowdfunding push has outraged Australia’s archivists and historians, and raised questions about the value Australia places on its national history.”

From ABC News in Australia, and I swear I did not plan for these two stories to go side by side: National Film and Sound Archive offering up some of its international collection of records, cylinders. “The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in Canberra is offering up 77 pallets of international sound material which curators say do not fit within the scope of their collection. The archive’s head of collection, Jacqui Uhlmann, says there are thousands of old records, wax cylinders and a MasterTouch Collection of international pianola rolls up for grabs.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Financial Times: England’s NHS plans to share patient records with third parties. I do not usually share Financial Times articles because of the paywall, but this article was not paywalled to me. “England’s NHS is preparing to scrape the medical histories of 55m patients, including sensitive information on mental and sexual health, criminal records and abuse, into a database it will share with third parties. The data collection project, which is the first of its kind, has caused an uproar among privacy campaigners, who say it is ‘legally problematic’, especially as patients only have a few weeks to opt out of the plan.”

Government Technology: N.Y. Bill Targets Privacy Issues Around Criminal DNA Profiles. “Municipal DNA identification indexes in New York have raised privacy concerns after a report showed they’re widely unregulated. One state lawmaker proposes to shut down these databases and create a single state-run index.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Mind Matters News: How A Searchable Database Is Helping Decipher A Lost Language. “There was once a flourishing civilization on the island of Crete called the Minoan culture (3000–11100 B.C.). Two languages are associated with it, Minoan A and, later, Minoan B. Minoan B was deciphered but Minoan A has remained a mystery that has ‘tormented linguists for many decades,’ as Patricia Klaus puts it. Deciphering it would give us a window back as far as 1800 BC.” Good evening, Internet…

May 28, 2021 at 06:01AM
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Franz Kafka, Vulnerable Marshes, Vaporwave Music, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021

Franz Kafka, Vulnerable Marshes, Vaporwave Music, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

BBC: Franz Kafka: Manuscripts, drawings and personal letters go online. “A collection of documents by the acclaimed Czech author Franz Kafka is now publicly available online, following intensive restoration, cataloguing and digitisation. The digitised collection includes three draft versions of Kafka’s story Wedding Preparations in the Country, a notebook in which he practiced Hebrew, and hundreds of personal letters, sketches and travel journals.”

USGS: USGS Releases Nationwide Marsh Vulnerability Maps. “U.S. Geological Survey scientists have developed and made available a new mapping resource that can identify the most vulnerable marshes across the contiguous U.S. through a combination of remote-sensing and satellite technologies. These maps provide critical information to land managers and help inform marsh conservation and restoration strategies without costly site-specific or labor-intensive assessments.”

National Library of New Zealand: Download Now… Free!. “Today we are very excited to cut the ribbon on a new born-digital collection donated by Luke Rowell, one of New Zealand’s foremost computer musicians. Over the last 20 years, Luke has performed hundreds of gigs around the world and released over 15 albums of popular electronic music, either as Disasteradio or Eyeliner. Among Luke’s best-known tracks is the synthpop hit ‘Gravy Rainbow’, while his Eyeliner albums are considered among the essential works of the vaporwave movement.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

BetaNews: Foxit PDF Reader 11 unveils major facelift and new 3D tools to accompany minor name change . “Foxit Software has taken the opportunity to rebrand its popular PDF viewing and editing products with its latest major release. Foxit Reader is now Foxit PDF Reader 11.0, while PDF-editing tool Foxit PhantomPDF is reclassified Foxit PDF Editor 11.0. Both newly renamed tools unveil revamped user interfaces with the promise of being leaner, simpler, and more intuitive to use. They both also gain support for more 3D functions and digital signature enhancements.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Joplin Globe: Joplin Hope Center for Disaster Recovery being established. “A digital library will be established to collect and store records related to the 2011 tornado that could provide information for other communities preparing for or recovering from a disaster. Called the Joplin Hope Center for Disaster Recovery, it is a joint project of Missouri Southern State University, the city of Joplin, the Joplin School District, The Joplin Globe, and area organizations and volunteers. It is being launched to mark the 10th anniversary of the storm.”

BBC: Appeal for tales of Hull airship crash which killed 44. “An appeal has been launched for stories and memorabilia ahead of the 100th anniversary of an airship disaster which killed 44 people. The R.38/ZR-2 exploded mid-flight in front of onlookers in Hull on 24 August 1921, before crashing into the River Humber, killing most of the crew. The airship, called the ‘Titanic of the skies’, was on a test flight before being handed over to the US Navy.”

Quartz: Hong Kongers are using blockchain archives to fight government censorship. “Using blockchain to bypass censorship is not new. In 2018, for example, #MeToo activists in China used the Ethereum blockchain to preserve an open letter by a Peking University student who said she was being pressured by the administration to cease her activism on a sexual assault case.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WTVD: Instagram scammers copycat popular accounts to access followers, money during giveaways. “As you are scrolling through your social media feed, you need to watch out for scammers impersonating popular businesses and influencers social media pages to try and get access to their followers and even their money. It happened to a popular triangle food and travel blogger, and when her account got shut down, she turned to out Troubleshooter Diane Wilson for help.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Eos: A New Tool May Make Geological Microscopy Data More Accessible. “Alex Steiner, a doctoral student at Michigan State University, had research to do working on thin sections—slivers of geological materials that are usually analyzed under a microscope. But he and the two undergraduate students on the project were not allowed to access the lab or the geological samples they were working on. Because, well, pandemic. It was out of this necessity that Steiner helped develop a new tool that could automatically take pictures of entire thin sections and stitch them into digital panoramic microscope images that could be analyzed anywhere.”

Northern Arizona University: NAU archaeologists teach computers to sort ancient pottery . “Archaeologists at Northern Arizona University are hoping a new technology they helped pioneer will change the way scientists study the broken pieces left behind by ancient societies. The team from NAU’s Department of Anthropology have succeeded in teaching computers to perform a complex task many scientists who study ancient societies have long dreamt of: rapidly and consistently sorting thousands of pottery designs into multiple stylistic categories. By using a form of machine learning known as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), the archaeologists created a computerized method that roughly emulates the thought processes of the human mind in analyzing visual information.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 28, 2021 at 12:21AM
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Delaware WWII Casualties, Commonwealth Ocean Funding, Facebook, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021

Delaware WWII Casualties, Commonwealth Ocean Funding, Facebook, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, May 27, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Delaware Online: He’s telling the stories behind Delaware’s World War II dead, one soldier at a time. “The man who gave him that gift is Lowell Silverman, a Newark resident who has spent the pandemic researching Delaware dead from World War II. A few weeks ago, he created a new website dedicated to the hundreds of Delaware-born soldiers who died with hopes of telling all their stories. He’s off to a fast start.”

Commonwealth of Nations: New funding database for ocean action. “The Commonwealth Secretariat has launched an online database to help member countries be aware of and access more than US$170 million of international funding available for ocean-related projects. Accompanying this new web tool is a handbook containing valuable guidance on how to navigate the database, as well as match and pitch projects to the most suitable funders.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Variety: Instagram, Facebook Will Now Let You Hide Public Like Counts. “Does seeing the number of ‘likes’ on a post stress you out? Now all users on Instagram (and soon Facebook) will have the option to hide public like counts on their posts — and choose whether or not they see likes on other people’s posts.”

Politico: Facebook no longer treating ‘man-made’ Covid as a crackpot idea. “Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

MarketWatch: ‘An organic, social-media phenomenon’: TikTok is driving a surge in demand for young-adult fiction novels. “Some people go on TikTok to see funny clips of dogs popping out of watermelons, learn new dances or discover cooking hacks. Others are there to get book recommendations — using the hashtag #BookTok. These recommendations tend to skew toward young-adult fiction novels — and have contributed to a nearly 70% increase in demand for the year to date through April compared to the previous year, according to data from the NPD Group.”

WisBusiness: BookScape brings the written word to 3D life. “The product has both a mobile application and a browser-based version that takes an excerpt of text and turns it into an illustrative work of art. Once available for purchase, BookScape will be a recurring subscription-based software so users can easily create and store their illustrations online…. The software uses a library of three-dimensional models to build the visualized environment, using artificial intelligence to fill in information gaps.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NBC News: FAA finally OKs database to track pilot employment records, after 12 years of delays. “Twelve years after Colgan Flight 3407 crashed, the loved ones of the 50 victims finally got from the federal government what they’ve long been demanding — a pledge to create a U.S. database to keep track of bad pilots. But it could be a few more years before that long-awaited database is fully implemented.”

UChicago News: For launching JusticeText, Leslie Jones-Dove and Devshi Mehrotra named to Forbes 30 Under 30. “”In 2019, a pair of undergraduate computer science majors at the University of Chicago set out to complete their capstone for the College course, ‘Entrepreneurship in Technology.’ They never anticipated that their project would later serve public defenders around the country. Shortly after the class ended, Leslie Jones-Dove and Devshi Mehrotra co-founded JusticeText, software that generates automated transcripts of body camera footage, interrogation videos, jail calls and more. JusticeText expedites the pre-trial preparation time and allows public defenders to analyze crucial data.”

New York Times: WhatsApp Sues India’s Government to Stop New Internet Rules. ” WhatsApp sued the Indian government on Wednesday to stop what it said were oppressive new internet rules that would require it to make people’s messages ‘traceable’ to outside parties for the first time.” Baffled this article doesn’t mention that rumors on WhatsApp led to the lynchings of over twenty people in India.

RESEARCH & OPINION

Quartz: Dear India, here’s how to cope with a censored internet, xoxo China. “While bans on foreign platforms may not be imminent as some news reports suggest, the new restrictions are stoking fears that online news and dissent will be increasingly stifled. In China, as similar rules came into play, foreign social media platforms departed or were blocked, leading to the rise of Chinese platforms whose terms of agreement make clear that user communications will be shared with the government in many circumstances. As a result, internet users in China have long had practice circumventing their authorities’ watchful eyes. It might just be time for users in India—or anywhere really—to draw some valuable tips from their experience.”

BetaKit: Biobox Analytics Launches Platform To Help Scientists Analyze Genomic Data. “Founded in 2019 by a trio of University of Toronto graduate students including [Christopher] Li, Hamza Farooq, and Julian Mazzitelli, BioBox offers a subscription-based data analytics platform for scientists working with next-generation sequencing data. The startup’s platform allows researchers to analyze genomic information.”

Poynter: Brand over substance may determine the public’s perception of news articles, study says . “The public’s perception of a news outlet’s trustworthiness may come down to branding rather than content, according to a recently released study from the Knight Foundation and Gallup. The study used data from a specially designed news aggregation platform called NewsLense to test participants’ perceptions and interactions with articles from outlets identified as either ‘sympathetic,’ ‘no lean,’ or ‘adversarial.'” Good morning, Internet….

May 27, 2021 at 05:28PM
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Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Australia Shipwrecks, PhenCards, LGBTQ/BIPOC Mental Health, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 26, 2021

Australia Shipwrecks, PhenCards, LGBTQ/BIPOC Mental Health, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 26, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Rockhamption Regional Council: New exhibition uncovers Australia’s fascinating shipwreck history. “Australia’s coast is the final resting place of over 11,000 shipwrecks – roughly one wreck for every three kilometres of coastline, and Queensland’s Sovereign and Foam, are two of 14 wrecks whose stories will feature in the nationally touring panel exhibition…. Submerged – Stories of Australia’s Shipwrecks is on a two year national tour across regional Australia. All 68 submitted shipwreck stories are available now on the AMMC website in a digital archive.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: CHOP Researchers Create Search Engine Linking Diseases and Observable Traits . “A patient comes to a doctor with a constellation of symptoms and physical traits that, at a first glance, do not lead to an obvious diagnosis. Perhaps the patient has facial abnormalities and cardiac symptoms, as well as other issues with the skeleton and joints. The provider suspects these symptoms relate to a disease that is due to an underlying genetic mutation but is unsure where to look. Enter PhenCards, a new data resource and search engine created by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) that links existing biomedical knowledge with observable human traits, also known as phenotypes.”

Los Angeles Times: The photographer who built a mental health community on IG has a healing regimen for you. “Featuring tips and suggestions for therapy, herbalism, food, yoga and more, Solace is ‘an ever-evolving library of resources for mental health support, healing, and wellness with a focus on BIPOC & LGBTQ communities.'”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

PC Gamer: The latest Google Doodle is a stylish jazz swing rhythm game. “I’m a bit of a rhythm game fanatic, always looking to sink my teeth into a new musical experience. So imagine my surprise when I saw that the latest Google Doodle was, in fact, a rhythm game. The doodle celebrates swing music and the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, an iconic venue during the swing era and one of the first public spaces in the United States to be racially inclusive with a no-discrimination policy.”

USEFUL STUFF

In honor of Super Moons, from Skies & Scopes: Best Astrophotography Apps (for brilliant night sky photography). “Having the best astrophotography apps on your smartphone or tablet can be a fantastic and inexpensive shortcut towards nailing a great shot of the night sky. The difference between taking a great astronomy photograph or not can often be external factors, such as finding the right location, waiting for optimal conditions, and timing it right. There are some great free (or cheap) apps available that can help your astrophotography.”

CNET: How to take your best ever photos with your iPhone or Android phone. “Regardless of the phone you have, CNET has been busy testing every feature of today’s phone cameras, and we’ve put together a whole range of how-to guides and tutorials that will take you through everything you need to start taking incredible images using just your phone.” A huge roundup of useful photography tutorials.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

ITWeb: Google vows to combat data manipulation during SA elections. “Google has vowed to Parliament that it will protect the integrity of SA’s upcoming elections, saying it will not allow any manipulative agenda on its platforms. Google along with tech firms Twitter and Facebook were invited by the South African Parliament’s Committee of Communications and Digital Technologies yesterday to respond to questions about misinformation on their platforms.

New York Times: ‘Social Media Is the Mass Protest’: Solidarity With Palestinians Grows Online. “As Israeli airstrikes pummel Gaza, the reaction from Arab capitals has been muted and protests scattered. But the voices on social media have been loud and clear.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NBC News: Russia, Iran were top two sources of disinfo on Facebook targeting U.S. during Trump admin, says report. “Russia and Iran were the leading purveyors of disinformation on Facebook over the past four years, and the American public was the top target, according to a new report by Facebook summing up the social media network’s efforts to purge itself of propaganda.”

Pulse: S. Korea to build national bio big data library by 2028. “South Korea will spend some 1 trillion won ($891 million) for six years from 2023 on collecting health-related big data from patients by disease and volunteers and establishing a national digital library on health data by 2028. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday the government will establish the so-called Bio Data Dam by 2028 by collecting biohealth information from 1 million people, including some 400,000 patients.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 27, 2021 at 01:48AM
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Northwest Digital Heritage, Aboriginal Library Collection, Google Maps, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, May 26, 2021

Northwest Digital Heritage, Aboriginal Library Collection, Google Maps, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, May 26, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

KTVZ: Oregon, Washington partner on tool to access, share cultural heritage digital archives. “The Oregon Heritage Commission, State Library of Oregon and Washington State Library have partnered to launch Northwest Digital Heritage, an online platform for Oregon- and Washington-based libraries, museums and cultural heritage organizations to digitize and make accessible cultural heritage materials.”

Save the Children: Our Yarning – An Aboriginal Library Collection Bringing Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Stories To All Australians. “Library For All’s digital library is available for free via an app through Google Play. The app contains a unique, curated collection of high-quality children’s books developed by authors and illustrators across the globe. The books are age appropriate, culturally relevant and engaging for kids. The Our Yarning collection of Aboriginal books will also be available to all on the Library For All app. [Dr. Julie Owen] is optimistic about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children having access to the collection through the app.

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ZDNet: New Google Maps tools make navigating Sydney’s stations easier. “Google and Transport for New South Wales have teamed up to launch new features on Google Maps to make navigating through Sydney’s 130 train and dozen metro stations easier. One of the new features is indoor Street View imagery that will allow commuters to virtually navigate interactive, panoramic imagery inside Sydney stations.”

Australian Aviation: Google Drones To Fly Coffee To Offices In Queensland. “Google’s drone delivery service, Wing, will soon be delivering coffee to offices in Logan, Queensland. The development is possible because the business will soon extend its service beyond residential homes to include commercial business locations in a dozen suburbs – up from just three currently. Wing first launched in Canberra last year and currently allows for the delivery of packages that weigh less than 1.5 kilograms from a variety of retailers who sell household goods.”

9to5 Google: Chrome 91 rolling out: Freeze Tab Groups, launch PWAs at startup, Android tablets load desktop site. “Following version 90’s release on Android, Mac, Windows, and Linux, the next release of Google’s browser is rolling out. Chrome 91 is here with a handful of features for Android including updated form controls and desktop sites on tablets.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Heavy Consequence: Robert Plant Instructs His Kids to Unleash His Unreleased Archive of Music for Free When He Dies. “On the latest episode of his Digging Deep podcast, the iconic singer told co-host Matt Everitt that he spent a good portion of the pandemic archiving his unreleased material from over the years. The music dates from his pre-Zeppelin days in 1966 through the present day…. He added, ‘I’ve told the kids when I kick the bucket, open it to the public free of charge — just to see how many silly things there were down the line from 1966 to now. It’s a journey.'”

KNBA: Museums, Native heritage organizations look to future of digital collection, repatriation. “The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act certainly has its flaws. But museums and Native cultural organizations look to the future of digital collections and repatriation. The Alutiiq Museum, which is based in Kodiak, will begin to digitize its collection with the eventual goal of expanding and digitizing collections from other museums.”

Portland Tribune: Spruce Goose archives could take flight with state grant. “If you think Howard Hughes’ plane the Spruce Goose is big (It is. It really is), then try this on for size: more than 1 million pieces of paper — documents, blueprints, original drawings and thousands of photographs. That’s what the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in Yamhill County holds in a stack of shelves, file cabinets and cardboard tubes related to construction of the giant flying boat.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Engadget: European Commission may soon open an antitrust investigation into Facebook. “Facebook is facing yet another antitrust battle in Europe in the midst of an ongoing investigation in Germany and a looming case in the UK. The European Commission is gearing up to probe the social network’s alleged abuse of power in classified advertising, according to the Financial Times. An investigation could be launched in a matter of days as officials seek greater clarity on Facebook’s promotion of its Marketplace service.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Chemistry World: Publishers grapple with an invisible foe as huge organised fraud hits scientific journals. “While plagiarism and fraud isn’t new – individual researchers have been caught photoshopping electron microscopy images or inventing elemental analysis data – paper mills serve up professional fakery for their customers on an industrial scale. Buyers can apparently purchase a paper, or authorship of one, on any topic based on phony results to submit to a journal. This makes them not only harder to detect and crack down on, but also exponentially increases the damage they could do.”

The Verge: Microsoft has built an AI-powered autocomplete for code using GPT-3. “In September 2020, Microsoft purchased an exclusive license to the underlying technology behind GPT-3, an AI language tool built by OpenAI. Now, the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant has announced its first commercial use case for the program: an assistive feature in the company’s PowerApps software that turns natural language into readymade code.”

Automotive World: Jaguar Land Rover and Google measure Dublin air quality with all-electric I-PACE. “Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with Google to integrate the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE with air quality measuring sensors and Street View mapping technology. The I-PACE is the first all-electric Google Street View vehicle and will be used to measure street-by-street air quality in Dublin including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and fine particles (PM2.5). It will also help update Google Maps.” Good morning, Internet…

May 26, 2021 at 07:19PM
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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Yelp, Google Docs, Canadian Musical Theater, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 25, 2021

Yelp, Google Docs, Canadian Musical Theater, More: Tuesday Evening ResearchBuzz, May 25, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Yelp: Yelp makes it easy to support LGBTQ-owned businesses, and find “Open to All” places to celebrate Pride. “To celebrate Pride Month, Yelp is making it easier than ever for consumers to support businesses that align with their values, and find safe and welcoming places to enjoy Pride celebrations all month long. Starting today, Yelp is introducing an LGBTQ-owned business attribute that will allow business owners to self identify as LGBTQ-owned. In addition, restaurant, food and nightlife businesses that identify as LGBTQ-owned or Open to All will be highlighted on Yelp with rainbow-colored map pins for the entire month of June to help people find places to celebrate Pride Month.”

Engadget: Google Docs will let you overlay text on images like it’s 1997. “Google announced some major changes to Workspace at its recent I/O event, including deeper connections between its productivity and chat apps. But, while eye-catching improvements like ‘smart canvas’ could potentially boost collaboration, some of its online tools still lack rudimentary functions. A new update aims to fix that by bringing a feature available on most word processors to Google Docs. Basically, you can now place an image in front of or behind text while editing a document.” Came for the news and honestly? Stayed for the snark.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Broadway World: Canadian Musical Theatre Database Announced. “Today, TIFT Artistic Producer Arkady Spivak announced the new project, the Canadian Musical Theatre Database (CMTDB). This inclusive online resource will advocate for greater access, leading to increased production of Canadian musicals by professional, community and youth theatre companies, as well as by student productions within the education sector.”

Pulse: Naver to enhance internet search engine to fend off Google’s ascent in Korea. “South Korean internet giant Naver Corp. will update its internet search platform that takes up more than 50 percent of its total revenue, with a deep learning-based new search feature that finds information reflecting user intent next month to defend its dominance internet search market from Google.”

Stuff New Zealand: Major project to allow digital access to 130 years of The Press archives. “The Press archives up to 1995 will be digitised and made freely available for searching online under a landmark agreement with the National Library. The library’s Papers Past website already publishes editions of The Press from 1861 to 1945 which can be searched by words, phrases and dates. They are part of a substantial catalogue of 167 historic newspapers dating from 1839 to 1950, plus magazines, letters and Parliamentary papers.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

SangFroid Web: Phishing SCAM Alert: Beware of Fake Email from an “Experienced Photographer and Illustrator” Claiming Copyright Infringement. “We have received reports from clients about a malicious scammer named ‘Mel’ (‘Mellie’ in one case and ‘Melina’ in the other) filling out their website form, and very aggressively claiming copyright infringement. The email arrives via your website contact form and accuses you of using copyrighted website images and asks you to click on a link to see the list of the images that are in violation. (DON’T CLICK THE LINK.) The writer threatens to file a complaint with your hosting company and sue you.” The one I got, the person was named Rochelle.

Department of Justice: Russian Hacker Sentenced to 30 Months for Running a Website Selling Stolen, Counterfeit and Hacked Accounts . “Kirill Victorovich Firsov, a Russian citizen, was sentenced to 30 months in custody for his role as the administrator of a website that catered to cyber criminals by virtually selling items such as stolen credit card information, other personal information and services to be used for criminal activity.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Transparency International: Lack Of Transparency Over Vaccine Trials, Secretive Contracts And ‘science By Press Release’ Risk Success Of Global Covid-19 Response. “For Whose Benefit? is an in-depth study of the development and sale of the world’s top 20 COVID-19 vaccines, including those developed by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. Through detailed analysis of clinical trial data and nearly 200 contracts for vaccine sales up to March 2021, the report reveals a pattern of poor transparency and a disturbing trend of governments censoring key details of their orders from drug companies.”

Duke Today: ’Smart Toilet’ Uses Artificial Intelligence To Monitor Bowel Health. “An artificial intelligence tool being developed by Duke scientists can be added to the standard toilet to help analyze patients’ stool and give gastroenterologists the information they need to provide appropriate treatment for chronic issues such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).”

CNET: Discovery’s live cicada cam puts you in the heart of Brood X country. “This morning, a co-worker in Louisville, Kentucky, described hearing a chorus of cicadas buzzing outside her window. The most insect action I’ve gotten here in San Francisco today, on the other hand, is the lone bee I spotted outside my home office window. Yeah, I’m feeling pretty left out as trillions of Brood X cicadas descend on the Eastern US for the first time in 17 years. Thankfully, Discovery has launched a 24-hour live cicada cam to ease the cicada-FOMO of those of us fascinated by this natural phenomenon but not situated in Brood X country.” There are links to the livestream at the end of the article, but the only one I found with an actual LIVE feed was the Discovery site itself, so start there. Good evening, Internet…

May 26, 2021 at 05:23AM
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The Guggenheim Panza Collection Initiative, Triathlon Data, Texas Podcast Network, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 25, 2021

The Guggenheim Panza Collection Initiative, Triathlon Data, Texas Podcast Network, More: Tuesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, May 25, 2021
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

City Life Org: New Guggenheim Publication And Digital Archive Share Findings On The Preservation And Presentation Of Minimal, Post-minimal, And Conceptual Art. “The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Object Lessons: Case Studies in Minimal Art—The Guggenheim Panza Collection Initiative, a major print publication contributing new scholarship on a critical period in art production and the field of conservation. In addition, the museum has launched a new digital archive, the Panza Collection Initiative Records.”

SportsPro: PTO creates online portal for triathlon data analytics and statistics. “The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has hailed a ‘new era in athlete and fan engagement for triathlon’ after launching a new data analytics and statistics website. The new platform… will become a single destination for key performance stats and analytics on all PTO professionals, including all-time record scores and times, as well as all major long-course triathlon results since 1978.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

University of Texas at Austin: UT Austin Launches the Texas Podcast Network. “Over half of Americans listen to podcasts, and there are a lot out there for them to choose from. The Texas Podcast Network is a great way to discover the podcasts being made across campus. Currently, there are 16 shows on the network, and the number is growing. These shows bring you into conversations about research and campus culture, covering topics from policy to science to student life.” I looked at the list and there was very little here that would be of interest solely to a UT Austin student. Looks like a good list.

TechRadar: Keep prying eyes off your Google search history with this new account tweak. “It’s no secret that Google tracks your activity when you use its hardware and software – whether it be an Android device, smart speaker or even just Google Chrome – but how secure is this activity log? At present, anyone with access to a logged-in device can view this log, but as discovered by Android Police, Google has recently introduced a way to password protect the ‘My Activity’ page.”

US Department of Education: Explore U.S. History at our Nation’s Most Hallowed Ground. “Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) is considered America’s most hallowed ground and a sacred shrine to service and sacrifice. More than 400,000 people are laid to rest at ANC including former presidents, astronauts, civil rights activists, medical professionals, and prominent military figures. ANC recently launched an education program for students, families, and lifelong learners.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Hong Kong Free Press: How China is sweeping up its own social media mess. “…the China Chang’an Web post, which was subsequently deleted, was an embarrassment underscoring a far more widespread problem: rampant negligence and mismanagement among the very government affairs new media that were promoted 12 years ago in China as a breakthrough in communication between the government and the public.”

Al Jazeera: Gaza-based journalists say their accounts blocked by WhatsApp. “According to the Associated Press, 17 journalists in Gaza confirmed their WhatsApp accounts had been blocked since Friday. By midday Monday, only four journalists – working for Al Jazeera – confirmed their accounts had been restored.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: German antitrust watchdog investigates Google over data use. “Germany’s antitrust watchdog has launched a probe into whether Google Germany, Google Ireland and its parent company Alphabet are exploiting their market dominance in the way they handle data, it said on Tuesday.”

Lawfare Blog: Is the Facebook Oversight Board an International Human Rights Tribunal?. “Key Oversight Board design features—such as its ability to issue binding rulings and nonbinding recommendations, as well as the standards it applies—resemble those of international human rights tribunals. In addition, the board is developing answers to procedural questions that resemble the responses these institutions have adopted. The Trump decision also reveals that the board faces challenges to its authority and legitimacy similar to those that new international review bodies have confronted.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

International Atomic Energy Agency: IAEA Tool for Self-Assessment of National Nuclear and Radiation Safety Infrastructure Now Available Online . “The IAEA has launched a web-based version of its self-assessment tool — eSARIS — with additional features and advanced functionalities to support Member States in assessing their nuclear and radiation safety framework, to either strengthen the national regulatory infrastructure or in preparation for an IAEA Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission.” Good afternoon, Internet…

May 25, 2021 at 11:44PM
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